Rosi Kerr '98, the College's new sustainability director, has run the gamut of wide-ranging work in the field of sustainability working in advocacy, business and institutions of higher education. Now she is trying to bridge the divisions among campus environmental groups and help them to discuss the College's energy efficiency, its role in combating climate change and its efforts to purchase locally grown food.
Kerr was appointed on Oct. 22 and began serving in her new position on Monday.
Kerr said uniting people across campus to work on sustainability initiatives is central to her mission.
"My job is to stitch all [sustainability efforts] together into a unified, cohesive direction," Kerr said. "There are sustainability champions all over campus."
A key role of universities is to produce future leaders who understand how sustainability relates to whatever profession they may pursue, she said.
"The main product [of colleges] is students who are going to have a disproportionate impact on the trajectory of the world," Kerr said.
Kerr's vision for bringing together the various sustainability outlets on campus has been met with optimism among students who worry about the lack of such collaboration.
"Students in general are really excited because we haven't had this kind of administrative support for sustainability for a while," Cristina Pellegrini '11 said. "Students are kind of lost in terms of who to talk to and how to change things in general."
Kerr's experiences in diverse aspects of the sustainability field make her particularly qualified to be the College's sustainability director, according to Linda Snyder, vice president for campus planning and facilities.
"We wanted someone who had a good understanding of the business side as well as the advocacy side of sustainability and who could bring those two together," Snyder, who led the search committee for the position, said.
Kerr's work for Juice Energy where she developed green energy proposals for commercial, industrial and nonprofit companies equipped her with an understanding of the intersection between sustainability and business, Kerr said. The business aspects of sustainability are linked directly to the College's financial health, she said.
"Dartmouth has to operate in a set of financial realities," Kerr said. "It is constantly interacting with the business community."
Deirdre Lord, the co-founder of Juice Energy, which shut down in 2008, said that Kerr and her experience will benefit the College.
"She is going to be an advocate for Dartmouth because she will be able to identify businesses that can advance the mission of the College," Lord said. "She has really good knowledge of what drives businesses, how they make money and the challenges that customers have in getting good products."
Colleges represent a unique combination of the intellectual and operational parts of sustainability, Kerr said. For example, the College's emissions pledge a 30-percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 from 2005 levels entails decisions about which renewable energy sources are best suited for the College and which suppliers will provide that energy, Kerr said.
Professor Andrew Friedland, the chair of the environmental studies program, pointed to Kerr's time with GreenerU, a company that advises colleges on sustainability issues, as an example of her experience that will help the College.
At GreenerU, Kerr analyzed institutions, considered areas for potential improvement and implemented solutions that would make college campuses more sustainable, Friedland said.
Kerr's connections with people in the sustainability field across the country will also be an advantage for Dartmouth, Snyder said.
At Dartmouth, Kerr will be working with Ivy Plus a network that includes both Ivy League and other institutions to address sustainability issues, Kerr said.
Friedland said he hopes to incorporate Kerr into his plan to offer more classes in the environmental studies department that focus on problem-solving and practical applications.
Kerr's presence will ensure regular dialogue between student sustainability groups and the administration, which has been difficult to achieve in the past because of high turnover rates for both leaders of student organizations and administrators, according to Laura Coyle '12, the head of house for the Sustainable Living Center.
"The relationship between green groups and the administration is very much a two-way street," Coyle said. "But in the past this communication has been hard. There is no constant population of people consistently communicating."
Part of the reason for this poor communication may have been the gap between last winter's departure of former Sustainable Program Manager Kathy Lambert '90, who was selected for the position in March 2008, and Kerr's appointment this fall, Pellegrini said.
Snyder acknowledged the existence of that gap, but emphasized that other people on campus presidential fellow for sustainability Jennifer Pollock Th'08 and Joanna Whitcomb, director of planning in the Office of Planning, Design and Construction filled the role in the interim.
The trend of colleges and universities hiring sustainability directors began roughly 10 or 15 years ago and has expanded since then, Friedland said.
Institutions of higher education have recognized the potential to save money by using resources more efficiently, Friedland said. These schools have realized the necessity of addressing their energy use and carbon dioxide emissions, he said.
This year, the College received an A- rating from the Sustainable Endowments Institute, which publishes annually a College Sustainability Report Card.
Institutions are also incorporating sustainability into their academic programs and administrative departments, Friedland said.
